Nevertheless, 25 deputies in the Milwaukee County sheriff's office scored memberships in the six-figure club in 2013, with overtime-enhanced pay that reached as high as $166,000, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review of county payroll records found.

Another 27 deputies earned between $90,000 and $100,000 last year, meaning about 20% of Milwaukee County deputies had incomes of $90,000 or more in 2013.

Not bad, considering their base pay was about $64,000, or just under $31 an hour.

Two deputies — Van Callies and Byron Terry — racked up more money in overtime than they made from their actual salaries. Callies collected $98,407 in overtime, boosting his gross pay to $166,015. Terry took home an extra $72,391 in overtime pay, pushing his income for the year to $141,208.

Callies' overtime figure included $73,407 for extra hours worked last year, plus $25,000 from a secret settlement of a deputy overtime arbitration case. Terry got $250 from the settlement.

The settlement cost taxpayers more than $368,050 overall, with Callies and three other deputies getting $25,000 each, 27 deputies receiving $7,400 and three getting $2,000, according to county records. Another 249 deputies got $250.

The rationale for how the sums were parceled out to deputies has not been made public.

The overtime settlement was the result of a union complaint against Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., which said he violated the deputies' contract by assigning jail overtime only to lower-paid correctional officers starting in 2011 to save money. A state arbitrator in 2012 ruled in favor of the union and against Clarke. The county quietly paid out the settlement last year.

Callies is a 17-year veteran with the department assigned to freeway patrol, and Terry, who has 22 years of service, works at the airport. Both earned more last year than their boss. Clarke is paid $132,000 — and gets no overtime pay.

Callies also earned $124,218 for 2012, including more than $44,000 in overtime pay. Terry made $105,745 in '12, with more than $42,000 in overtime.

Callies and Terry did not respond to interview requests.

Ninety-four percent of the deputies worked some overtime last year, with the average payment at $12,468. Forty-seven deputies were paid at least $20,000 for overtime.

Clarke is seeking 157 additional positions, including 102 deputies. The sheriff's budget for this year is $78.7 million, including $4 million for overtime. Last year, the office paid out about $5.3 million in overtime.

Felber said overtime is so plentiful, deputies can work as much as they can tolerate.

Short staffing for courtroom security has made overtime a regular occurrence there, he said. "There's also a ton at the airport, a ton at (freeway) patrol," Felber said. "It's the whole department."

Clarke blames the cumulative effect of several years of budget cuts championed by County Executive Chris Abele in the name of efficiency, with the number of deputies trimmed to about 250. That's down by 70 since 2011, when Abele took office.

Abele is willing to work with the sheriff "if a realistic case for extra positions is made," Abele spokesman Brendan Conway said.

Critics say Clarke hasn't managed his budget as well as he should.

"One of the requirements of leadership is to live within your means," said Sachin Chheda, campaign manager for Chris Moews, a Milwaukee police lieutenant and Clarke's opponent for sheriff this fall. Clarke's failure to do that — or to successfully negotiate a larger budget with Abele and the County Board — shows "a sign of weakness and being unable to make the tough decisions," Chheda said.

Abele and county supervisors have questioned the wisdom of Clarke's decision last year to assign deputies to monitor security at courthouse entrances, adding to the security guards already stationed at those posts.

"In a post 9-11 world, you need deputies who are well-trained, highly skilled and can react to weapons that can get through the checkpoints," sheriff's Inspector Richard Schmidt said.

Clarke himself launched an era of fewer deputies in 2002, by replacing those who left with lower-paid correctional officers to work at the county jail. The strategy shrank the deputy ranks from 647 when Clarke took office a dozen years ago and helped him save money.

Now, Clarke argues that public safety is compromised by recent years' position eliminations.

"I have duties and responsibilities spelled out by the state constitution, state statutes and case law," Clarke said in a written response to questions. "If I don't have enough personnel, then I can't fulfill those duties," such as serving domestic violence injunctions, providing courtroom security and answering service calls, he said.

Clarke's budget is headed for a $4.6 million deficit this year, in part due to high overtime costs, according to a county comptroller's report.

Overtime hours assigned for the first quarter of 2014 are actually down 17%. For January through March this year, 28,330 overtime hours were worked for the sheriff by deputies and jailers, compared with 34,449 for the same period in 2013, department figures show.

Overtime hours in Clarke's department jumped more than 40% in 2013 over the previous year, figures the sheriff released reflecting the problems he says were spawned by budget cuts.